The highly anticipated documentary Melania, a film about the first lady Melania Trump’s life in the weeks leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration, opened in theaters on January 30, 2026, to a mix of box office records and sparsely filled theaters.
Directed by Brett Ratner and produced by Amazon MGM Studios, the film had a reported $40 million budget for production and marketing, making it one of the most expensive documentaries ever released.
Despite a $7 million opening weekend, which is the highest for any documentary in more than a decade, industry observers were struck by seats left unfilled in markets across the U.S and abroad.
Brett Ratner
Before examining the film Melania, it is essential to consider the background of its director, Brett Ratner. In recent years, Ratner’s professional reputation has been overshadowed by his inclusion in the widely publicized “Epstein Files.” These documents and images have sparked significant scrutiny regarding his personal and professional circles.
Brett Ratner has reportedly been in the Epstein Files seen cuddling with different women next to Jeffery Epstein. BBC and other major news outlets have detailed the release of a massive tranche of files related to the late Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. Among these files were specific images featuring Ratner in the company of Epstein and Jean-Luc Brunel. BBC stated that “The newly released images were part of a tranche of millions of files relating to the late sex offender, who died in custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.”
Justice.gov says that “A series of thumbnails of the picture collection shows Ratner, Epstein and Brunel smiling and relaxing with different women, all of whose identities have been concealed.”
The emergence of these photos has cast a long shadow over Ratner’s involvement in high-profile projects. For many critics and viewers, these associations raise difficult questions about accountability in Hollywood and the ethics of the leadership behind the camera. When discussing a film centered on a public figure as prominent as Melania Trump, the public’s perception of the director’s character inevitably becomes part of the conversation.
Critics labeled the film as “Propoganda” and “Hagiography”
Early reviews covered by Forbes and other outlets have been reviewing Melania in a negative way, with critics saying that the film feels more like promotional material than documentary cinema. Critics described the film as staged, overly flattering and devoid of real insight.
Critics have not held back. In a widely cited review in The Independent, the documentary receives a one star review and is described as “a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda.”
Similar language has come from The Guardian, where reviewer Xan Brooks describes the film as “gilded trash remake of The Zone of Interest,” saying that its slow pacing and lack of meaningful insight has left little to recommend.
Many reviews highlighted how poorly the film resonated with critics, with The Daily Beast reporting that Melania had landed a critics score far below expectations and drawing comparisons to notoriously disliked films such as Cats. The article noted critics labeled the film “insipid,” “pointless,” and like a “shameless infomercial.”
Rotten Tomatoes and Critical Scores
Sites like Rotten Tomatoes have given the movie extremely low ratings as well with a whopping 11% and 1.1/10 on IMDb. Earning Melania a very low critics score, worse even than some of the most notoriously panned films in recent years, leading some critics to compare its reception to that of Cats and other widely disliked movies and plays.
Box Office Results and Audience Reactions
Despite the critical backlash and empty theaters in some areas, Melania did achieve a notable box office milestone, earning around $7 million in its opening weekend, the strongest debut for a documentary in more than a decade.
Audience responses, however, remain mixed. Some early reports indicate that viewers who chose to see the film gave it stronger audience scores than critics, while others online mocked the movie’s empty houses and questioned why it was released nationwide
What Does The Youth Have To Say?
Despite the rating of 1 star out of 10, an 11% from Rotten Tomatoes, and a 1.1/10 from IMDb, young people“can’t believe they rated it that high.” Comments on articles reviewing the movie and on videos talking about the reviews, all have a common theme of recommending Michelle Obama’s movie, Becoming, instead. Saying things like “Melania who??? I was watching Michelle Obama on Netflix, the best first lady the country ever had!”
High school students have made comments about the Melania movie being “a shallow attempt to detach her “legacy” from her husband’s disaster of one, especially now because of all the backlash the White House is getting for supporting ICE still.”
Showing that the majority of the U.S agree that this movie is most likely an attempt to distract from the events that are occurring around ICE and Melania’s family.
